Wonderful, thank you! Essentially, narratives should speak to issues of confronting mortality and finding community as an older adult who is also a nonbeliever. I uploaded the pdf to this reply - hopefully that will work. If not, please shoot me an email at the address below and I'll send you all the information.

Atheists in America: Narratives from an Invisible Minority is a book that aspires to tell the stories of diverse individuals who identify as atheist in the increasingly conservative religious climate of the United States. As discussed by Cimino and Smith (2011), the practice of “coming out” as atheist has never been a matter of publicly identifying as atheist along a well-worn and legitimate path; instead, coming out involves emerging from invisibility to claim a personal and social identity that carries widespread stigma. There are few examples of “out” atheists in political offices, on sports teams, or within popular media and celebrity culture—leaving atheist individuals little opportunity to model their coming out process on the experiences of others. Thus, Atheists in America has two main objectives:The primary objective of the book is to present personal narratives that will illustrate how people from different cultures, religious backgrounds, cities, ages, sexual orientations, and family structures have reached their identities as atheist. Beyond identity development processes, the second objective of the book is to elucidate some of the many coming out routes for atheist individuals and shed light on how atheist people navigate social systems and decisions to conceal or reveal their beliefs to others.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROSPECTIVE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORSExtended submission deadline: August 1, 2012I am gathering personal narratives that speak to the “coming out as atheist” journeys of diverse nonreligious individuals across the United States. I have received an overwhelming number of submissions for narratives on some topics (THANK YOU!), but still need narratives that address the topics listed below!Atheists in America: Narratives from an Invisible Minority is under contract with Columbia University Press, one of the most well-established and prestigious academic presses in the world. Your submissions may be edited for length/content. Please email melanie.brewster@tc.columbia.edu with the prospective topic of your essay and with any questions. Feel free to be open, creative, and conversational in crafting your narrative essay. The “coming out” stories of contributing writers should each be about 1,500 to 4,000 words with content that aligns closely with one of the themes outlined.

I never really had to "come out." I have always BEEN out (as an atheist). I was never any religion, and from the time I was a child, my neighbors knew (and accepted) that my parents were non-believers, and that my brother and I were, as well!

I'll have to ask my dad for the quote, but at one time, one of the neighbors told him that whenever someone asked her whether atheists could be moral, she would use my brother and me as positive examples.

Melanie, I believe you have it backwards. It should be the other way around: believers in the Holy Scripture and organized religions should be the ones coming out of the closet. Picture a teenager leaving his room and sitting down at the family dinner table.

“Mom, dad,” he says grinding his teeth a little and wiping sweaty palms in front of the tableware. “Mom, dad, I feel I oughta tell you. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Virgin Mary, the resurrection of the body and our Lord Jesus Christ the legitimate son of God.”

Shocked, his parents gasp for air and reel back, mouths open and tears in their eyes. “Oh, no, how could you do this to us? Have you no shame? Don’t you know the damage the churches are doing to people?”

“I don’t care. I flunked out of science class and this is the only thing that makes sense. Jesus, our Lord, is redeemer, the lamb of God.”

“Whaaa! What have you been smokin’?”

I’m appending “A Compilation of Biblical Quotes” to show how whacky and bizarre these beliefs are. These were compiled by the feminist atheist writer and friend of mine, Barbara G. Walker. The material is copyrighted; it’s the epilogue to Mirror Reversal, but you’re welcome to use any part of it if you can see an appropriate spot in your anthology.

I once mentioned to Barbara, “It’s like hitting them on the head with their own belief system.”

To wit:

BIBLE MORALITY (compiled by Barbara Walker, author of Man Made God.)

Barbara asked me to add that this is from the King James Bible, as modern-day evangelicals have expurgated much of the really stupid and hostile quotations.

This compilation is incontrovertible, conspicuous proof that the Bible is a book written by idiots for idiots.

Read on, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. As always, comments are encouraged and welcome.

Rich

1. KILLING. (As in "Thou shalt not"???)

The biblical god personally kills a total of 371,186 people, not counting his slaughter of every living thing in Genesis 7. The biblical god also orders the killing of a total of 1,862,265.

Matt. 8:32 - Having no regard for private property, Jesus destroys a herd

of someone else's pigs.

Matt. 10:34 - Jesus says he brings not peace on earth, but "a sword."

Matt. 19:12 - Jesus says the best way for a man to be sure of getting into

heaven is to have himself castrated.

Mark 11:13 - Jesus destroys a fig tree for not bearing figs out of season.

Mark 14:4-7 - Jesus says it is more important to anoint him with precious

ointment than to give to the poor.

Luke 12:47,48 - Jesus says it is permissible to whip slaves.

Luke 14:26 - Jesus says no man can be his disciple unless he hates his

parents, siblings, wife, children, and himself as well.

Luke 19:27 - Jesus says anyone who denies his rulership must be killed.

John 15:6 - Jesus says anyone who doesn't believe in him must be

burned.

Acts 5:5-10 - Ananias and his wife Sapphira were killed for withholding

money from the church.

2 John 1:10,11 - A Christian is forbidden to offer hospitality to a non-

Christian, not even to wish him "Godspeed" on parting.

5. WOMEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1 Cor. 11:3-10 - Women are inferior "because man was not created for woman, but woman was created for man." Every woman "while praying or prophesying" must have her head covered "because of the angels," meaning the spirits (it used to be believed that women's hair attracts spirits).

1 Cor. 14:34,35 - Women must not speak in church. If they want to ask

questions, they must learn from their husbands at home.

Eph. 5:22 - Wives must submit to their husbands as they would to God.

1 Tim. 2:11-14 - A woman must not teach, or hold authority over a man,

but must "learn in silence with all subjection," because "Adam was

not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the

transgression." (So, being gullible is the original sin.)

1 Tim. 5:9 - Paul says the only women acceptable by the council of

elders are devout, monogamous women over the age of sixty.

6. SILLINESS

Gen. 1:11-12 - God made all green plants on the third day of creation,

but neglected to supply the sun (on which both plants and "days"

depend) until the fourth day.

Gen. 6:6,7 - Because a few people displeased him, God "repented"

having made the world, and decided to destroy all life on earth.

Deut. 25:11,12 - A woman who seizes a man's genitals, even to defend her husband from an attacker, must have her hand cut off.

James 5:14,15 - Prayer by the elders of the church is the only sure cure